To tweet, or not to tweet, that is the question

摘要

Social media has been at the forefront of the news with Linkedln's IPO, Facebook's expected IPO in 2012 and, of course, the unusual and self-destructive use of Twitter by former U.S. Rep. Andrew Weiner. The use of social media is an important marketing and business tool because it has the ability to reach such a wide audience. Although there are undoubtedly potential advantages, regulated firms, especially Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) registered firms that are members of the National Futures Association (NFA), must realize there can be pitfalls if applicable rules are not followed. Of course a big challenge is understanding how applicable rules apply to a phenomenon that is only a couple of years old. This article details those rules, discusses some of the issues with using social media and hopes to help firms avoid potential pitfalls.